Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Review and Discussion of The Movie Adam

Last night I was at a screening of the movie Adam as well as on stage afterwards to discuss the film and take Q& A.

The film Adam is about an electrical engineer in New York City who has Asperger Syndrome and has just recently lost his dad. The movie doesn't introduce Asperger's until maybe 1/3rd of the way through the movie, but the signs are certainly there.

As the movie progressed I was astounded and the similarity between the movie and events in my life. Truly it was haunting and I wonder, even though it is practically impossible, if the director/writer somehow interviewed the people known as Emily and Linda in my book. Because of this I don't know if my review can be unbiased because since the sameness was there I feel my judgment may be a bit skewed.

The movie may be called Adam, but Adam's new neighbor Beth in the movie is just as vital as the person who the movie is named after. Slowly there is a relationship and I am not one to give spoilers so that's the end of where my plot talk goes.

So, was it a good movie? Before I answer that let me say that before the movie there was a small presentation and we were told the movie's director said this, "I wanted to write a character for a movie and not to define a condition." Did the director achieve this? I do think so. However, I say that, "if you've met one person with autism you've only met one person with autism" on a daily basis so I know one depiction won't define now. How would someone unaffiliated with spectrum react? For this question I have no answer.

So again, was it good? I've heard several people say that the plot was boring, or slow, but I have to disagree and my disagreement probably comes from living out situations akin to the movie. Asperger Syndrome was in the movie but it really wasn't the movie. Adam had quirks, but they weren't exaggerated like many other characters in other movies or television shows.

So in the end I think that the writer/director made a good story about one person on the spectrum. If one can view this movie with that in mind I think it is a good story. If one lets this movie define their depiction of the spectrum then perhaps it isn't the best movie to view, but I enjoyed the story despite the haunting similarities between myself and Adam in terms of relationships.

After the movie there was about an hour of discussion and as I was about to be introduced I panicked. Yes, the reason was small, but I was seated in the middle of the row and I couldn't decide which way to exit the row I was seated in. One reason this amplified was I am not used to sharing the stage. That morning I had a three hour presentation at a court building. Of the 150 or so presentations I have done I have not been the sole speaker only twice.

Once I made my decision to go right I approached the stage, but here I didn't know when to actually step on stage. Do I wait until the whole introduction is done? Halfway through? but when was halfway? In terms of anxiety this portion of my day was starting out horribly.

I did make it on stage and sat down in one of the two chairs that they had put out which this too was different for me as I've only been seated twice in all my presentations. When I present I move around a little, I have precision in my steps and gestures with my hands, but now I was seated and did not know how to sit. Also, when one is standing and moving around a bit the lack of eye contact is easier to hide, while seated it was obvious, at least from my perspective.

As I was seated and struggling my coworker, Ann Schad, was introduced and sat to my right. The discussion then began and I said something early, but following that there was a long ago before I said anything. I wanted to though, as there were many stories I could have spoken, but speaking up is something I don't do well, if at all.

My eyes looked down and to the left towards the wall. I would glance back at the moderator every so often just so that there was some sign of life, but the level of discomfort on this stage at this stage of the evening was about as high as I could tolerate. If my discomfort was visible I am fully okay with this as this gave the audience another view point of a person on the spectrum. My "positional warfare" was raging and no matter where I looked or how I sat I was uncomfortable to the point that I wanted to go invisible just for a few seconds so I could feel relief as I was at my limit.

Then, a question was directed my way and I thought about it for a brief second and was able to use a story from one of my ill-fated trips to the mythical place known as the DMV. The question was, "At what point do you tell a person that you have Asperger Syndrome?" and I talked about the time I got frazzled at the DMV and threw my papers on the counter when it was finally my turn and told the lady I was on the spectrum.

After answering that question the audience started asking more and more questions of me and I was able to talk about Emily, and I was able to talk about Kansas and my "positional warfare" slowly vanished. The first ten minutes seemed like five hours and the final 50 minutes went by in a blink. I was able to use my humor and was able to tell my stories and really reach the audience. At the end the moderator mentioned that, "It is good that Aaron has found a way to be comfortable..." and with that I gave a awkward laugh because I didn't care what the second half of that sentence was as the audience got an example of Kansas unlike any other. I went from a awkward sitting, almost shaking person to a story teller and relevant speaker all within that hour. Most audiences will not see the me I deal with out in public; they won't see the "positional warfares" or the look as if I want to say something and yet I stay quiet. This audience though, last night, got to see that and through the anxiety I had and through the visible awkwardness the audience got the full picture of my life and the challenges that are there. I hope I didn't overshadow the movie, but at the end of the day it is a work of fiction and sitting before them was a true version. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to do that last night and I hope I get to do it again because, even though it was difficult for me, the contrast between the first 10 minutes and last 50 minutes is something I feel is beneficial to others because we can be shaky, we can be awkward, but if we get to Kansas we can go from that to an informative chatterbox.

2 comments:

Well I didn't dislike the ending of the movie because it's boring or anything. I disliked the ending for another reason. Only problem is I can't state it here, without spoiling the ending... I'll send a short e-mail to you.

This may sound very counter intuitive. But sometimes in life, if you expose yourself in numerous uncomfortable situations, you will LEARN how to be comfortable in those situations. However, if you are so comfortable in something, it can be very hard to accept something different- even if that is better than what you have before.

That's why sometimes I would sometimes go against what is recommended of autism literature. I know as much as individuals with autism crave structure, routine, and order. But, whether it's intended or not, there will be surprises happen in life. So, learning how to react and adapt appropriately are super important life skills. Hence, sometimes I may advice a parent to have the child to work in jobs where structure, routine, and order don't exist at least for some period of time. Then, whether the child succeeds or fails, have the child critically self-evaluate what he/she has done well and what he/she has to work on.

A lot of people say to me, "OT is a socially demanding and unpredictable profession. How did you cope with that?" I said to them, "I am not going to stress over things that are not in my control. I just am going to focus on the objective(s) at hand when things come." This is the "ideal" state I would like individuals with autism can strive for in every day things when changes happen.

Who I Am

Hello, my name is Aaron Likens and thanks for visiting my blog. I am the Autism Ambassador for Easter Seals Midwest and also the author of the book "Finding Kansas. My passion in life is to raise the awareness and understanding of the autism spectrum through this blog as well as the many presentations I give. For myself, as much as it is a passion, it is personal because I was given the diagnosis of Asperger's when I was 20. Back then there wasn't much info and I fell into a pit of despair. I stayed there for 15 months but then I eventually discovered myself through writing and now here I am and here you are on my blog. There are well over 1,000 posts on this blog as I started blogging in March of 2010. So whether you're reading today's blog, or are skimming through stories of the past, I hope that your time here gives you a better glimps of what living life on the autism spectrum, or, "other side of the wall" is like. If you do like what you see please follow me on Facebook as that's where I share when I've written a new blog as well as announcing where I will be presenting. Please note that the opinions expressed on this blog are mine and may not be reflective of Easter Seals Midwest.

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Finding Kansas Revisited

To mark 10 years since I started writing my book I did a blog series with my thoughts from today on what I wrote then. This was the first time I ever read anything I had ever written.

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I ran a sunglasses experiment to judge why eye contact is so difficult. I wore them for about 15 days, then I switched back to my normal glasses to see how big of a difference there was. By clicking my picture you can be taken to the page that has the complete experiement all in one place.

About Me

I am the Autism Ambassador for Easter Seals Midwest and also the author of Finding Kansas: Living and Decoding Asperger's Syndrome. My passion in life is raising awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders and to help the world understand how the mind of a person on the spectrum works. I can do this because I am on the spectrum (Asperger's).
I was diagnosed at the age of 20 and after the diagnosis a lot of my quirks made sense. I didn't understand who I was though and went into a deep depression. Through this depression though I became very keen on my inner self and I started to write. I wrote and I wrote and before I knew it I wrote a book.
5 years later I am, among other things, giving presentations to police, teachers, and parents and am now starting my quest on making the best blog possible!
The views on this blog are mine and may not be reflective of Touch Point Autism Services.
If you have any questions, or comments, or have an article idea please email me at aaron.likens@yahoo.com.